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Archiver > WADE > 1999-06 > 0929118677
From: Edward Smith <>
Subject: [WADE-L] Saltmakers Ordeal
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 12:31:17 -0400
To Wade List:
After checking with the most gracious hostess of the Wade page, I will
be posting a short book over the next several days. The book mainly
concerns Richard Wade, but it has other folks in it as well. The book is
not copyrighted. Where I have excerpted information from other material,
such as published books and The Draper files, I have given them credit
in the body of the text. If you use this material, I ask that you do the
same. I will furnish source and page information for any statement, name
or date in the book, but I cant give the exact quotes due to the length
of the sources. Ill tell you where to look, and you can look it up! If
youre not interested in this, just use your delete button ?.
CHAPTER SIX
On Tuesday June 16, 1778 toward evening darkness Boone escaped. He then
began a remarkable return journey to Boonesborough through the
wilderness that has been the stuff of legends ever since.
He said goodbye to his Indian mother, who plaintively begged him not to
go, and left. He rode his pony hard until darkness fell and then
slackened his pace somewhat. At dawn he again traveled as hard as he
could, until his pony gave out about 10:00 AM. He had stopped for only a
few minutes, when the animals legs stiffened so much he could hardly
move. He took off the saddle, blanket and bridle, hung them up in a tree
and resumed his flight on foot. He frequently broke his trail by running
up fallen trees and running up or down small streams. He reached the
Ohio River before the end of that day, and built a two-log raft out of
fallen dry timber and vines. He put his gun barrel, lock and clothing on
the raft and swam the river. After getting across the river, he thought
he was safe from pursuit for the time being and proceeded to get some
rest. When he awoke he found a suitable shaped young sapling tree and
made himself a stock for his gun by carving a groove down the curved,
offset portion of the sapling, and firmly tying the barrel of the gun
into the groove. Making a suitable stock under these circumstances, with
only a knife, speaks volumes about Daniels skills as a woodsman and a
gunsmith.
His feet had become scalded in his flight because he could not stop
to dry his moccasins, and he made poor progress on the remainder of his
flight from captivity. He did not see any game until he had passed the
Blue Licks, when he spotted and proceeded to kill a buffalo with his
improvised stock. In later years he talked about how well the gun
performed with his crooked sapling for a stock. He then built a fire by
striking the flint to stone, and had a delicious meal. He cooked the
tongue of the buffalo as a present for his son, Daniel.
He safely reached Boonesborough on the 20th of June, having traveled by
his own estimate a distance of 160 miles in less than 4 days, having one
meal along the way!
When Daniel got to his cabin he found that his wife had returned to
their home on the Yadkin river in North Carolina, having given him up
for dead. He was sitting forlornly in his cabin when the family cat came
in to greet him, and soon thereafter his daughter, Jemima, the wife of
Flanders Callaway, came in to welcome him home. One can only imagine the
emotion he must have felt. Surely he must have felt that he had done a
great service to his fellow man by preventing the massacre at the Salt
Licks, then spending four and a half months in Indian captivity, and
them escaping in time to warn the settlers at Boonesborough of the
impending Indian attack. Boone passed on his news to the men of the
fort.
The fort was in a terrible state of disrepair, and Boone immediately
took charge and organized the repair and refortification. In view of
Joseph Johnsons earlier report, some of the men were inclined to
believe that Daniel was in fact a Tory, and in sympathy with the British
and Indian cause. Rumors were flying. The men were reluctant to assist
in the preparations. Boones past actions were talked about behind his
back, and suspicion cast upon his character. Morale, and what little
discipline the men had, had deteriorated to a dangerous level when
William Hancock escaped from the Indians and brought further news of the
Indians plans.
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